REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 15, 1999 — Just a few weeks after launching its new online shopping service, Microsoft Corp. today announced it will feature free shipping offers on MSN TM eShop this holiday season. One of the top reasons online shoppers decide midway through the purchase not to buy is high shipping costs*. MSN eShop will help eliminate this concern for consumers this holiday season with offers of free shipping from more than 30 online stores. The new MSN eShop also provides a complete online shopping solution for the more than 30 million MSN.com TM users. They can easily browse more than 100 of the top online retailers; compare thousands of products side by side; peruse product reviews, detailed product information, return policies, warranties and more; and then buy with confidence. MSN eShop provides customers with a shopping experience unparalleled by any other site portal: top merchants in one location, a wide range of product offerings and, now, free shipping.
The response to the new MSN eShop service has been phenomenal, as e-shoppers embrace the power of one complete online shopping solution. The new service has already attracted over five times as many visitors to MSN eShop since the site’s launch a few weeks ago. MSN eShop addresses a key unmet need of consumers: the ability to easily find and buy exactly what they are looking for. More than 100 premier merchants have joined MSN eShop’s growing offering, making it more convenient for consumers to find, compare, select, purchase and ship their gifts during the busiest shopping season of the year – all from one site.
“Our vision for MSN eShop is to provide the ultimate online shopping site, making it as easy and convenient as possible for MSN users to buy everything they desire online,”
said Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing for the Consumer and Commerce Group at Microsoft.
“We are excited to bring these free shipping offers to our customers as they begin their holiday shopping.”
“We’ve already seen a great increase in sales from customers using the new MSN eShop since its Nov. 2 debut,”
said Rita Cummings Belle, director of Marketing and Advertising at wine.com.
“As part of our commitment to make online shopping as easy and convenient as possible, we’re excited to offer our customers free shipping as well. It’s just one more reason to try MSN eShop this holiday season.”
“The tremendous increase in traffic to MSN over the last year was a primary factor behind our decision to participate in MSN eShop’s free shipping promotion,”
said Hilary Billings, president and CEO, Red Envelope Gifts Online.
“We believe that customers will more easily discover our products due to MSN eShop’s search and find tools, and free shipping is a great way to thank them for shopping with us this holiday season.”
Whether consumers are shopping for toys, books, jewelry, music, videos, sporting goods or even home furnishings, MSN eShop will make it easy for them to find what they are looking for and ship it for free. Merchants currently participating in this promotion include 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Alle Fine Jewelry, Alloy.com, AtYourOffice.com, barnes & noble.com, Biscoff.Com, Cooking.com, Crutchfield.com, deLiAs.com, Eddie Bauer Online, eHobbies, Furniture.com, Garden.com, Godiva.com, HickoryFarms, ibeauty.com, igo.com, Lifextension.com, Mercata, Outpost.com, PETsMART.com, Red Envelope Gifts, Send.com, Shopsports, Toohome, Toysrus.com, ToyTime.com, Umbra.com, Watchzone and wine.com.
To take advantage of the free shipping offers, shoppers simply click on
“free shipping” at MSN eShop, then sign in using Microsoft® Passport. They can then select a participating store, find what they want to buy, and get the items shipped for free. People can take advantage of the free shipping offers on qualifying purchases during the promotional period from Nov. 14 to Dec. 18. Offers vary by participating retailer, and certain restrictions apply.
About MSN
MSN is the network of Internet services from Microsoft that helps people better organize the Web around what’s important to them. The network of MSN services, located on the Web at MSN.com ( http://MSN.com/ ), helps people make smart and secure purchasing decisions, easily stay in touch with friends and colleagues, and get more done. MSN offers award-winning e-mail functionality; personal communications services; wireless services information; customizable access to news; popular sites for travel, investing, automotive services, shopping and more; an online community; a Web search engine and directories; and top-rated Internet access.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
*Information taken from an internetnews.com article can be found in its entirety at http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article/0,1087,4_228561,00.html.
Microsoft, MSN and MSN.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
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